For the first time in Moldova, 14 young people from the diaspora who study or work abroad contributed to the implementation of public policies in the areas of finance, economy and remittances, putting forward 11 solutions to the problems experienced by Moldova. The suggestions were presented in the seminar “Economic diaspora for Moldova”, IPN reports.

Three solutions were suggested for increasing the share of economic investments made by migrants. The first is “Diaspora bonds”, which are state bonds issued for a medium and long term especially to members of the diaspora. The second solution is remittance securing, which is a bank lending method designed to augment the value of remittance flows. The third solution is the multi-finance platforms, which are an innovative method of collecting funds through social media for projects from the public or private sector by small contributions.

The young people also proposed solutions for increasing the level of insurance of agriculture against natural disasters. The goal of the policy is to treble the volume of agricultural insurance by 2016. The authors suggest diversifying the agricultural insurance products, including by attracting foreign players to the insurance market.

As to the pension system, the members of the diaspora suggest implementing a private pension system and adopting the optional pension system based on two subsystems – optional and micro-pensions.

Attending the opening of the seminar, Prime Minister Iurie Leanca said the country counts on the remittances coming from abroad, but these remittances have a beneficial effect on the economy only temporarily. Moldova is neither the first nor the last country that faces the phenomenon of migration, but the authorities must find a method to direct the invested remittances so that they contribute to economic growth and enhanced welfare and make the people remain in the country.

Ghenadie Cretu, Labor Migration Program Coordinator at the International Organization for Migration Mission to Moldova, said the Government of Norway is supporting the implementation of a program to stimulate the temporary return home of the Moldovan people, scientists and researchers so that they contribute to the development of the sector and offset the brain drain.

The public policy seminar “Economic diaspora for Moldova” was held within the Diaspora Days with the support of the global joint program “Mainstreaming migration into national development strategies” that is implemented by the Government with the support of IOM, UNDP and UN Women and is financed by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation.